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Christopher Lloyd
Veteran actor Christopher Lloyd played the role of Klingon Commander Kruge in the 1984 film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Lloyd attended the prestigious Fessenden School in Massachusetts and later Staples High School in Connecticut, graduating from the latter in 1957. Since embarking on a career in acting, he has appeared in over a hundred film and television projects as well as over 200 stage productions, and has become highly recognized for his versatility and comedic finesse. Lloyd first rose to fame as Reverend Jim Ignatowski on the ABC (and later NBC) television comedy Taxi. Lloyd won two Emmy Awards for his role as the lovable, burnt-out Ignatowski, one in 1982 and another in 1983. Lloyd also won an Emmy for his guest appearance on Road to Avonlea in 1992; among those who starred in this series were Star Trek guest stars Claire Rankin and Marc Worden. Lloyd is probably best recognized, however, for his portrayal of the eccentric inventor, Dr. Emmett Brown, in the popular Back to the Future movie trilogy. This role not only earned him a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, but also granted him worldwide recognition and status as a cinematic icon. He made his feature film debut in 1975's Best Picture Oscar-winner One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which fellow Trek alumni Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, and Vincent Schiavelli also starred. In 1978, Lloyd appeared in the mini-series The Word, as did Diana Muldaur, Nehemiah Persoff, Allan Miller, Jonathan Banks, and Star Trek: Voyager star Kate Mulgrew. The following year proved to be a very busy one for Lloyd. Not only did he join the cast of Taxi, but he also appeared with his Cuckoo's Nest co-star Louise Fletcher, as well as Dick Miller and Phillip R. Allen, in the gangster drama The Lady in Red. Also in 1979, Lloyd co-starred with Jeff Corey, Peter Weller, Noble Willingham, fellow Klingon actor John Schuck, and Cuckoo's Nest co-stars Peter Brocco and Vincent Schiavelli in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days. And also that same year, Lloyd joined the likes of John Savage, Ronny Cox, Richard Herd, K Callan, Michael Pataki, Phillip R. Allen, and John de Lancie as part of the cast of the acclaimed drama The Onion Field. After Taxi was cancelled in 1983, Lloyd played the Lectroid John Bigboote (that's "Bigboo-tay") in the cult science fiction adventure The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension! in 1984, co-starring with Butch and Sundance co-stars Peter Weller (in the title role) and Vincent Schiavelli, as well as Clancy Brown and Robert Ito. Another role for which he is well-remembered – and which he received a second Saturn Award nomination for – is that of the sinister Judge Doom in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, co-starring Joanna Cassidy and David L. Lander. He also had a memorable turn as Uncle Fester in the 1991 film The Addams Family and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values. Both of these films co-starred Carel Struycken. Although he has been most inclined to perform in comedic roles, such as those of 1985's Clue (co-starring Michael McKean) and 1989's The Dream Team, he has often proven himself a truly versatile actor with dramatic turns in such projects as the 1995 crime drama Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (which also featured Bill Cobbs, Don Stark, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr., Bill Bolender, and Bill Erwin) and the acclaimed 2001 TV adaptation of the play Wit. He also won an Independent Spirit Award for his role as a bank robber in the 1993 drama Twenty Bucks, a film which also starred Matt Frewer and Concetta Tomei. Lloyd appeared opposite Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actor Paul Winfield in the 1993 adaptation of the comic strip Dennis the Menace (also featuring Bill Erwin). In 1994, he starred in Camp Nowhere, which also featured The Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes, Voyager's Kate Mulgrew, and fellow Trek actors John Putch and Ron Fassler. Later that year, he appeared and lent his voice to the fantasy film The Pagemaster, which also featured the voices of TNG's Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg, VOY's Robert Picardo, and Leonard Nimoy. Lloyd and Patrick Stewart also appeared in the TV movie In Search of Dr. Seuss that same year, along with Matt Frewer, Graham Jarvis, and Andrea Martin. Other memorable films in which he starred include Goin' South (1978, with Ed Begley, Jr. and Georgia Schmidt), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981, with John Colicos and Albert Henderson), Mr. Mom (1983, with Teri Garr, Graham Jarvis, Carolyn Seymour, Bruce French, Michael Ensign, and Derek McGrath), Eight Men Out (1988, with Gordon Clapp, Kevin Tighe, and John Anderson), and Angels in the Outfield (1994, with Neal McDonough). In the latter, he played Al, the boss angel, a role which he reprised in a 1997 TV sequel called Angels in the Endzone, with Paul Dooley. Lloyd also lent his voice to several animated films, including Disney's DuckTales: The Movie - Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990, with Richard Libertini), Anastasia (1997, with Kelsey Grammer, Kirsten Dunst, and Andrea Martin), and Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002, with Paul Sorvino and Vincent Schiavelli). Besides his role on Taxi, Lloyd's television credits included guest appearances on several popular series, from Barney Miller (starring Ron Glass and James Gregory) and Cheers (along with Christopher Carroll and Kelsey Grammer) to Malcolm in the Middle and The West Wing. In 1995, he co-starred with TNG actor Brent Spiner on the short-lived Deadly Games. Most recently, Lloyd was a regular on the FOX TV sitcom Stacked. Other Trek connections Films * Another Man, Another Chance (1977) with Michael Berryman and Vincent Schiavelli * The Black Marble (1980) with Robert Foxworth, Barbara Babcock, John Hancock, Jorge Cervera, Jr., and Herta Ware * Schizoid (1980) with Richard Herd, Marianna Hill, and Craig Wasson * National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1982) with Elisha Cook, Jr. and Dick Miller * Joy of Sex (1984) with Jeanne Mori * Miracles (1986) with Teri Garr and Charles Rocket * Walk Like a Man (1987) with Megan Parlen, Earl Boen, John McLiam and Ellen Albertini Dow * Track 29 (1988) with Seymour Cassel and Leon Rippy * Why Me? (1990) with Michael J. Pollard, Tony Plana, Jack Kehler, and Lawrence Tierney * Suburban Commando (1991) with Tom Morga * Radioland Murders (1994) with Corbin Bernsen, Ellen Albertini Dow, and Michael McKean * Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie (1995) with Frank Gorshin and Bruce McGill * Cadillac Ranch (1996) with Jim Metzler and Kenneth Tigar * Baby Geniuses (1999) with Kim Cattrall * Man on the Moon (1999) with Vincent Schiavelli * Wish You Were Dead (2002) with Clayton Landey * R.L. Stein's Haunted Lighthouse (2003) with Michael McKean TV guest appearances * Street Hawk pilot episode (1985) with James Avery, Lawrence Pressman, and Biff Yeager * Spin City episode "Back to the Future IV" (1999) with Alan Ruck TV movies * Money on the Side (1982) with Gary Graham * September Gun (1983) with Sally Kellerman and Clayton Landey * Old Friends (1984) with Stanley Kamel * The Cowboy and the Bellerina (1984) with Antoinette Bower and Michael Pataki * Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Pat Hobby Teamed with Genius (1987) with Molly Hagan and Wendy Schaal * T Bone N Weasel (1992) with Graham Jarvis * Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster (1992) with Bruce Gray and Bob Gunton * Rent-a-Kid (1995) with Matt McCoy * The Right to Remain Silent (1996) with Jack Shearer and Dey Young * Quicksilver Highway (1997) with Matt Frewer, Raphael Sbarge, and Bill Bolender * The Ransom of Red Chief (1998) with Alan Ruck, Richard Riehle, and Brad Greenquist * Alice in Wonderland (1999) with Whoopi Goldberg * The Big Time (2002) with John de Lancie, Pat Healy, and Dakin Matthews * Admissions (2004) with John Savage * Detective (2005) with Richard Riehle and Michael Shamus Wiles Trivia Lloyd's character on Taxi, Jim Ignatowski, was a huge fan of Star Trek and resented NBC's decision to cancel the show. However, one of his qualms about the series was the male Romulan commander (see in TOS: "Balance of Terror"), whom he believed "did things no Romulan would ever do." Lloyd played the role of "Uncle Martin the Martian" in the 1999 film My Favorite Martian, a role which TNG actor Ray Walston originated in the classic TV sitcom on which it is based. Walston himself also had a supporting role in the film, as did Wallace Shawn. Lloyd has co-starred with the late Vincent Schiavelli at least eight times since the two of them first appeared together in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They also shared the screen in the films Another Man, Another Chance (1977), Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979), three episodes of Taxi (1982-83), and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984). The also made brief appearances in 1999's Man on the Moon, a film depicting the life of their Taxi co-star Andy Kaufman, and they both supplied voices in the animated film Hey Arnold! The Movie. Schiavelli passed away in 2005. External Links * * Lloyd, Christopher Lloyd, Christopher de:Christopher Lloyd es:Christopher Lloyd